Welcome to The Logoff: The Trump administration is leaning into its attack on free speech after pressuring ABC to take late-night host Jimmy Kimmel off the air.
What happened? Kimmel was suspended by ABC on Wednesday after comments from President Donald Trump’s Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr.
In a podcast appearance Wednesday, Carr said, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Subsequently, two major broadcast groups announced their intent to pull Kimmel’s show from local stations; Nexstar, one of those groups, needs FCC approval for a pending merger.
What did Kimmel say? Ostensibly, Kimmel’s suspension was over arguably misleading but relatively anodyne remarks he made about the death of Charlie Kirk earlier this week. On Thursday, however, Trump gave away the game, telling reporters that, “When you have a network and you have evening shows and all they do is hit Trump…They’re not allowed to do that.”
Why does this matter? Under the First Amendment, the government cannot suppress speech, no matter how much it might disagree with it. Kimmel’s suspension didn’t require any concrete action by the FCC, but it clearly came in response to Carr’s comments.
Carr also said Thursday that “I don’t think this is the last shoe to drop…the consequences are going to continue to flow.”
What’s the big picture? As my colleague Zack Beauchamp has written, this is Trump’s most brazen attack on free speech yet, and right out of a familiar autocratic playbook. Trump has a long way to go before he achieves a level of media control like Hungary’s Viktor Orbán — but the speed with which he was able to get Kimmel suspended is a concerning sign.
